CHAPTER TWO – How The Hell Did I End Up Here?
Buffy walked with a purpose toward the Crawford Street Mansion. Despite the fact she and Angel were barely speaking he kept the power and water on at the mansion in case of emergency. And if anything could constitute an emergency it was leaving your own home during a possible apocalypse.
As Buffy walked to the mansion she thought about how she'd ended up in Sunnydale.
Flashback
As she walked through the dark streets of L.A. she heard the sounds of fighting. She rounded the corner and looked into an alley. At the rear was a young blond girl who appeared to be fighting for her life against four vampires.
"Damn. You try to stay out of trouble and there it is just waiting for you. I never should have come to L.A."
The girl appeared to be holding her own. Wielding her stake with precision. Just as she dusted the third vampire a fifth jumped from the fire escape and into the fight. The girl failed to see the newest threat and was hit over the head falling to the ground.
"Well, well can't you boys find someone your own size to pick on. It's not very manly to pick on little girls."
"Well it seems our dinner just doubled in size."
"Oh! I'm sorry. I don't have time for dinner but thinks for the invite. But, because you've been so polite let me introduce myself. Isabella du Lac, Vampire Slayer."
The two vampires in the alley traded worried looks but then quickly moved into a fighting stance.
"Boys, boys. Let's get this done. I wasn't really planning on spending my night in an alley fighting vampires."
Isabella quickly moved towards the vampire on her left at an almost blinding speed plunging the stake into his chest. As he dissolved she whirled on the second plunging her stake into his back.
"How boring! You'd think they'd put up a little more of a fight."
Isabella moved over to the young girl who was still unconscious. As she bent over her the girl groaned.
"What happened to me?"
"Hold still. You took a nasty hit to the back of your head. You were fighting four vampires. Doing quite well I might add when a fifth jumped from the roof and hit you from behind."
The girl looked at her with suspicion. Most likely wondering how Isabella knew about vampires.
"I took out the last two. Can I call your Watcher for you?"
"No, my watcher's…Wait how do you know about watcher's?"
"You'd be surprised what I know. Let's get you somewhere I can treat your wound and we'll talk."
The girl looked warily at her but also as if she desperately wanted to trust her. Taking a deep breath she said, "OK."
"I'm going to take you with me to my hotel. It's not to far from here. We can clean you up and get you something to eat while we talk."
As she started to help the girl up she spoke again, "What's your name?"
"You must think I'm terribly rude. My name is Isabella du Lac. What's yours?"
"Buffy Summers."
Isabella and Buffy quickly made it to the hotel and up to Isabella's suite. She guided Buffy to the sofa and went into the bathroom for the first aid kit. As she walked into the room she noticed the young girl staring at her hands intently as if unsure what to say to the strange woman who'd rescued her just minutes before.
"Why don't you let me tell you a story while I patch you up and then you can tell me yours."
"OK"
"In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer. 3,000 years ago I was the Chosen One. A man came to my village and spoke with the people who I thought were my parents and the next day they sent me with him. Over the next two years I spent every night fighting vampires and demons. Then on a cold night I went out with my Watcher to face a demon that had been terrorizing the village we were living in. I saw my Watcher killed in front of me. Then the demon turned to me and before I could react he shoved his claws into my chest and I fell to the ground."
"Wait this is crazy. You can't die and come back. And you really can't be 3,000 years old."
"I know it's difficult to believe. But, I bet until you saw your first Vampire you didn't think they were real either."
"No. I thought my watcher, Merrick, was crazy."
"Vampires are not the only immortal beings that walk the earth. The night I faced that demon I died my first death and when I woke I was immortal. Of course, I didn't find out what it meant until several years later."
"What does it mean?"
"Immortals cannot be killed other than severing their head from their body. However, there is a price to our immortality. The Game."
"What's the game?"
"Immortals are destined to meet in single combat armed only with a sword. The goal is to take the head of the immortal you face releasing the quickening. The quickening contains all the knowledge and skills of the dead immortal. Most immortals are content to live their lives among mortals. Some, however, are headhunters bent on taking as many heads as possible. Legend says that the last immortal will gain immense power – the power to rule the world."
"So, when you died you found out you were immortal. Was another slayer called?"
"I didn't find out until several years later that I was no longer the slayer. I was patrolling a small village when I saw the current slayer battling a group of vampires. It was not long after that I met my first immortal. I was lucky – he wasn't a head hunter and agreed to train me."
The two women talked long into the night about Isabella's life and Buffy's desperate fear of dieing young performing her sacred duty.
"All Merrick talked about before he died was duty. I don't want this duty. I hate it," she sobbed out.
Two days later Isabella du Lac became Buffy Summers and Buffy Summers became Elizabeth Winters and left for parts unknown on the back of her boyfriend Pike's motorcycle. Not long after that Isabella was living in Sunnydale with her friend Joyce posing as her mother. (note: From now on Buffy and Isabella will be used interchangeably)
It was only with the arrival of Kendra in Sunnydale that Buffy realized the young girl she'd changed places with the previous year had died. But by that time she was committed to life on the hellmouth and the constant battle to prevent the latest "Big Bad" from opening the doorway to hell.
END FLASHBACK
Once she arrived at the mansion she began to plan her next step. She knew that stopping the First couldn't be accomplished on her own – but who could she trust. Spike, of course. Despite their recent history he could always be counted on. She smiled to herself thinking back on their relationship.
FLASHBACK
Isabella had only been in Prague for a few days visiting friends prior to meeting Joyce in Sunnydale. It had to be the worst city on the face of the planet. It was cold and wet and right now there seemed to be a crazy mob advancing on a man and a woman. She turned her car toward the two figures running from the mob.
It quickly become obvious the two people the mob was chasing were vampires but Isabella recognized one of them. A face from a previous life. A dear friend who'd been driven mad. Drusilla.
She sped down the street toward the two vampires. Luckily she was able to reach them before the mob. Rolling down the window she screamed, "Drusilla, get your ass in the car!"
The man turned shocked blue eyes on her and Drusilla merely whimpered, "Bella."
"Get in. Drusilla is a friend. I'll get you out of here."
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Spike jumped in the car. He figured if nothing else this woman had just volunteered to become dinner.
"How the bloody hell do you know Dru?"
"It's a long story. Let's get away from this mob and I'll be happy to share it with you. But for now…I knew Drusilla before Angelus, the sadistic bastard, turned her."
That night a friendship was born. A strange one for two Vampires and former slayer but a friendship nonetheless. Anyone who would help Drusilla and actively disliked Angelus was good in Spike's book. And for Isabella anyone that would stand by Drusilla – who despite being a crazy vampiress was still her friend – was good in her book.
END FLASHBACK